Shooting Star
The Shooting Star Trigrams: 16 Points Weaponry: Languages Spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese. Scripts Read: Chinese. Notable Equipment and Resources: Autocycle: Meihua built this bike herself, and it's one of the fastest in the kingdom. It's her pride and joy, and she will gladly cut the hand off of anyone that touches it. It's tailor made to her spefications, and grants her a +1 bonus to all piloting checks with it. It's name is "Firebird." Motorskates (3.25 taels): A lifetime on the back of an autocycle has rendered Meihua inordinately un-fond of walking. As a result, she hobbled together a pair of mechanical wheeled boots, letting her skate around at reckless speeds even when not on a bike. So long as the boots are working and she can stay mobile, she may use her Piloting in place of Evasion. Flaming Saber (5 taels): This sword has been modified with cache of flamible liquid in the hilt, that connects to channels running through the blade. With the flick of a switch, the whole sword ignites. Anyone struck by this sword risks catching fire. Foes lit on fire take damage each round, equal to the number of successes on the previous round; thus, if a 8C strike deals 5 points of damage on this initial round, then the target suffers 5 coins of damage the next. Fire Whip (4 taels): This nine-section chain whip has been heavily modified, which each section turned into a tiny canister of her home-brew napalm. Like the saber, it ignites with the flick of a switch, producing a substantial amount of “on fire.” Collapsible Flamethrower (4.2 taels): Unlike the heavy-duty military grade flamethrowers, this is a personal model that uses a small fuel tank under the barrel instead of a large back-mounted one. The whole weapon is roughly the size of a carbine, but the stock and barrel fold in, let it collapse down to the size of a large pistol when not in use. Meihua made this flamethrower out of parts from her dead brother's autocycle, so that she might someday avenge his death with it. It is tailored to her small frame, and gives her +1 bonus to attack rolls. MediumArmor (3 tael): Meihua typically dresses in a suit of heavy leather riding gear, dyed red. The leather is reinforced with steel plates and and an antiballistic lining, giving a +2 bonus to toughness and a -2 penalty to movement skills. Includes goggles, of course. Terrifying Arsenal of Bombs: Shooting Star keeps a wide array of grenades and explosives on her person and in her home at all times. Please consult the table below for costs and effects. Thanks to her Prepared Alchemist talent, Meihua always has the right bomb on her at the right time. Gang of Hoodlums: Meihua's remaining followers are loyal but neither particularly bright nor courageous. As such, they should not be counted on for much. She can round up about eight of these miscreants at any given time. Savings: Meihua has about 11 taels worth of money squirreled away under her mattress. Not including the wealth she has invested in high explosives. Talents: Gentleman Returns the Gift! Explosives: 3 You can hurl live grenades back at their senders before they go off. When you are the central target of an Explosives attack made with a grenade and you pass your Evasion check to dodge, you may spend a point of Breath to hurl the grenade back before it goes off, making a free Explosives check with that weapon. Hail of a Thousand Mortars! Requirements: Explosives 2 You can hurl grenades with each hand, laying waste to the battlefield. When you have both hands free, you may spend a point of Breath to make two simaltaneous Explosives checks with grenades or single-handed explosive weaponry (such as wrist-mounted flamethrowers). Alchemist Opens the Gates! Requirements: Explosives 1 You know how to open doors with small explosives in place of keys. When attemping to bypass a locked door or similar obstacle, you may use an Explosives check in place of a Security check. Fire and Smoke! Requirements: Alchemistry 3 You can make explosives that mix both explosive and chemical effects, delivering clouds of poison smoke amidst their detonation. When making such a bomb, you must pay the cost of both the explosive and the chemical effect. Thus, you could create Stun Grenades that also deliver Poison Gas, or Incendiary Rockets that also deliver Burning Smoke. Chariot Takes the Field!''' You're used to fighting and driving at the same time. In vehicular combat, you may make Piloting checks in place of Evasion checks to dodge attacks. Thanks to her motorskates, almost all combat is vehicular combat. '''Leadership! For some reason, people follow you around. Choose either Bravado, Diplomacy, or Deception; for every total point in this skill, you have one faceless lackey. Meihua has eight good for nothing street hoodlums who still followed her after the Red Pheonix gang split up. Prepared Alchemist! Alchemistry: 2 You can never be too safe, so you always keep dangerous chemicals on you. You can make retroactive craft checks for alchemical items to have the desired item on your person when you need it. By paying the full price of the item, you can make retroactive craft checks for alchemical items to have the desired item on your person when you need it. Dance of the Fire God! Requirements: Explosives 4 You know how to use a flamethrower to it's full effect, filling the battlefield with hellfire. When confronted with multiple foes, you may choose to target several of them at a time, strafing a line of fire from one to the other. For each additional target, you must spend a point of Breath, and suffer a -1 penalty to Power and Precision (thus, if if you wished to attack three targets, you would have to spend 2 points of Breath and suffer a -2 penalty to Power and Precision). Explosives Crafting Table: Explosives have three main parameters: Explosive Effect, Chemical Effect, and Delivery method. The delivery method determines how far and wide the explosion can reach, and the Effects determine what kind of damage the explosion deals. An explosive must have both a Delivery Method and an Effect. Delivery Methods: Cherry Bomb: '''A tiny grenade, roughly the size of a cherry. A cherry bomb will give a small, controlled detonation, just enough to cover a single target without any risk of splash damage. As such, they are effective for avoiding collateral damage in close quarters combat. Cherry bombs are usually either thrown in combat or hidden in unwary opponent's clothing when not looking. '''Grenade: '''A grenade, conversely, will affect everyone in a ten foot radius of where it's thrown. As such, it can easily effect everyone in a small room, allowing them to damage multiple targets at once. Grenades are typically thrown or set off as part of traps. Grenades have an effective burst radius of about 5 meters, enough to fill a small room. '''Rocket: '''Rockets, lastly, deliver wide radius explosives over the course of long distances. They are typically deployed from specialized rocket launchers. Like grenades, rockets explode in a 5 meter burst. '''Explosive Effects: Fragmentation: '''This is your traditional explosive, which hurls bits of shrapnel at high speeds. They deal lethal damage. '''Concussion: '''A concussion grenade releases a potent shockwave, but no shrapnel, battering foes without killing. They deal nonlethal damage. '''Stun: '''Stun grenades create a thunderous sound and flash of light, disorienting all who are effected. They deal stunning damage, but no wounds. '''Incendiary: These grenades are filled with a highly flammable phosphorous gas. Anyone damaged by them is lit on fire, and takes damage on subsequent rounds as per the fire damage rules. Extinguisher Grenade: '''A handy device to have in a bomb-fight; an extinguisher grenade deploys a cloud of chemical foam that puts out fires. Anyone who is on fire and is hit by one of these grenades is automatically extinguished. '''Chemical Effects: Smoke Bomb: ''' These grenades deal no damage, but fill the air with thick smoke, requiring an Awareness check to identify anything or anyone more than 5' away, and imposing a -4 penalty on Awareness checks and any ranged attack rolls. Smoke can come in varying degrees of lethality, as shown below. '''Blinding Smoke: These grenades are similar to smoke bombs, except that the smoke burns the eyes. It conceals as per Concealing Smoke above, but also inflicts blindness. Anyone who fails their fortitude save is blinded; anyone who fails by double is blinded and stunned for their next round. They remain blinded until they are removed from the cloud, after which they can take a new Fortitude save against the original damage each round to clear their eyes. Burning Smoke: These explosives release a cloud of deadly acidic vapor that burns the skin, such as chlorine or mustard gas. It both blinds and conceals likes Blinding Smoke, but also delivers a light wound every round that a character is within the cloud. Biography: "Meihua" means "beautiful flower." It is a somewhat misleading name. Li grew up amongst the streets of Beijing, never knowing her parents. She was raised by her elder brother, Li Gongxin, leader of the notorious Red Pheonix autocycle gang. When Gongxin was killed by the rival White Tiger gang, it fell to her to take up the mantle of leadership. Sadly, the Red Pheonix gang quickly fell to infighting, with both herself and her rival Hei Feng fighting for control of the gang. When the dust settled, the bulk of the Red Pheonixes were on Xin's side, and Li had to go underground with a handful of the members who were still loyal to her. Li has sworn vengeance on the White Tigers for the death of her brother, and sworn vengeance upon Hei for the loss of her followers. She has a lot a vengeance to enact. Personality: If Meihua could be summed in one word, that word would be "uncouth." She is prone to cursing, rough language, and talking altogether too loudly. She is extremely emotional and hot-tempered, quick to take insult and quick to escalate a situation. Appearance: Though she is short and slight of build, Meihua strikes quite a menacing demeanor. She dresses in heavy duty red leather riding gear, and usually has a saber on one hip and a collapsing flamethrower on the other, connected by a belt of grenade pouches. Her hair has been bleached yellow, and cut into short, jagged and uneven layers. As a rule, she almost never wears a helmet when autocycling. Playstyle: Meihua is a technology-combat character based around vehicular combat, the use of explosives, and setting people on fire. She is extremely adept at both creating and using all manner of bombs and grenades. Though she is capable with her sword and pistol and foot combat, she's at her best when lobbing grenades off the side of a motorcycle.